The "In" Crowd

"The new business philosophy is to outsource more and build alliances," he says. His shop insources work only from Beckman Coulter's original equipment manufacturers. He feels that when the insourcing clients aren't connected to the parent company, an in-plant loses its focus.

Messner disagrees.

"Our internal customers don't get less service," she says. "They're still our biggest customer. We have to worry about their needs."